HTC readying the Desire 820 with a 64-bit, eight-core SoC

While Apple might have been first to ship a 64-bit SoC in a smartphone with the iPhone 5s, other manufacturers are gearing up to race to ship the first Android device with a 64-bit SoC inside. A few previous reports indicated Samsung would get there first with a 64-bit Exynos version of the Galaxy Note 4, but HTC might just slip in ahead with their upcoming Desire 820.

An image posted on HTC's Weibo account has teased the Desire 820, claiming it will be the world's first octa-core 64-bit phone. Although the exact SoC set for inclusion in the 820 hasn't been revealed, HTC has relied on Qualcomm silicon in the past, so the chip we're most likely going to see is the Snapdragon 615.

Announced at MWC 2014 alongside the Snapdragon 801 and 610, the Snadpragon 615 comes with eight ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores, an Adreno 405 GPU, a single-channel 64-bit LPDDR2/3 controller, plus integrated LTE and Wi-Fi 802.11ac. It's not the highest-end chip in Qualcomm's line-up, but it is the first with 64-bit support, and should provide decent upper-mid-range performance.

The teaser image above doesn't show much of the device itself, apart from a blue ridge and a front-facing camera. Expect more details on September 4, which should coincide nicely with HTC's IFA event.